


The day after the crash

by Fipsi19



Series: The day after [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, av - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Family, M/M, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 14:02:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2112696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fipsi19/pseuds/Fipsi19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>C/C is more on the side as the story focuses on the niece of Coulson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Basically it is a story of Coulson´s niece, her life with him and the battle of Manhattan and its aftermath.  
> The story is set in an alternate universe so it is slightly ooc. The characters are not mine.  
> The title is the title of a poem I read in a book.
> 
> The day after the crash  
> The sun still, surprisingly, came up and shone down onto the cold, metal leftovers. No loud noises. No screams. No breaking glass. Just silence and sunshine. You would be forgiven for thinking that this all happened on another planet. It didn´t.

Losing your parents is hard, losing them twice even harder.

The first time Lyra was three. Obviously she didn´t remember them in all their glory. Just bits and pieces like her mothers smile, her fathers dark hair and the feeling of being loved by them. They loved her until one day they were gone. Drunk driver crashed into their car on their way to work. After the funeral a man in a suit took her in. He was her mother´s younger brother, Phil, and became her new parent. When he entered her life he brought secret agencies, spies and superheros into her life. Her new family consisted of him, Marcus, Maria and Jasper. Those four were the constants in her life. When her uncle was away on a „business trip“ she stayed with one of the three. Most of the times with Jasper and his wife because they had children of their own, though she prefered to stay with Marcus or Maria as they were much more fun. Maria taught her self defence and how to blend in in a crowd which was great fun for a small child but horror for every shoppingtrip she took with Mrs Sitwell ( you can call me Rose). Her uncle didn´t want to handle the distressed phone calls everytime it happened so stays at Maria´s were last resort. Marcus was seldom not busy and had near never time to watch over her. Still she loved it when she could stay with him for he had a room filled with stuffed toys and Lego. In the beginning she didn´t understand why a grown man would have a room like that but one night after a nightmare she found him, in need of comfort, in his home office looking at a picture of two small girls. At first she wanted to leave feeling like an intruder but the moment he saw her, he smiled at her with a knowing smile and offered some hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows. Marcus always had tiny marshmallows unlike Maria who let her cut the marshmallows in halves. Her uncle wasn´t impressed the one time he picked her up at Maria´s to see his five year old niece with a knife in her hands cutting marshmallows talking about divine punishment laughing like a maniac. Maria in her defense tried to explain that the marshmallows ate all the tiny ones and now got punishment for their crime (she totally forgot to buy tiny ones and had to comfort a small crying child demanding tiny marshmallows, in her excuse nobody ever said she wasn´t creative.)

 

At the age of six she got into a boarding school which took in most kids from her uncle´s firm. Although it was a boarding school she only stayed overnight when her uncle went away for trips.  
She still saw Marcus, Maria and Jasper often and during the summer holidays as they were allowed to have her over in their home. Any marshmallow incidents or knife incidents of any kind were sworn to secrecy.

By the time Lyra was seven she knew for sure that her uncle was not just an accountant. She knew no accounting firm would be led by a man with an eye patch and a long black leather coat. Maria and their self defence lessons only hardened her belief. The fact that the one time she got lost on a school trip and all agents not out in the field were roaming NYC looking for her was just the final piece of the puzzle. Not to forget that the teacher in question, poor woman who couldn´t really be blamed after all the training from Maria, got fired and a slighty gruff looking Canadian took over her class and stayed as her art teacher through the years. He had a surprising knowledge about Monet and other french Expressionists and Impressionists. He watched over her in school always muttering about a deed he had to pay back and had a bizarre hate love for men in suit looking like accountants.

 

For a long time Lyra´s little family consisted out of these four people until shortly after the museum incident. For the next couple of days her uncle wanted her to stay in his view of vision, meaning she was grounded. She was brought to school by an agent who stayed at school watching her and at the end of classes brought her back home supervising her until her uncle came home. The agent in question (Melinda May, you can call me Agent May or May) was a nice enough woman who didn´t tolerate any B.S. and was clearly pissed of by babysitting her. It seemed that making a rookie mistake translated to babysitting duty and sworn secrecy about it.  
On the day her family grew, May was called in for an emergency before her uncle came back home. After promising to stay inside and to call if something was wrong and promising to go bed, she left, although in fear of of the wrath of not only her uncle but also her supervisors. Lyra promised best behavior and not letting in any strangers. May only calmed down after a confirming phone call and an email confirming her need to leave. Better to have it written down somewhere she said leaving the flat.

The moment the seven year old was alone all rules were broken. First broken one was to play with her knife collection, a strange but thoughtful present for her seventh birthday only followed by waching TV. She began polishing her smaller knives and watched Disney Channel. Fully focused on the task on her hand she never noticed the stranger getting into the flat. By the time she noticed him, as she had the feeling someone was watching her, the stranger was standing in the doorway. Before she even could scream or throw a knife, the stranger was stoped by her uncle. He didn´t do anything flashy like tackle him on the ground, instead he just said „Agent Barton, what a pleasant surprise“ in his deadpan voice. Lyra still a little in shock but relieved that her uncle was here quickly composed herself. And realised she was in deep trouble. Not only did she not notice the intruder and hid, but also she had broken three of his rules. (knives, tv and staying up past bedtime deep deep trouble) Still thinking of any excuse the now silent room was filled with a loud „What the “ „Language Barton!“ The stranger looked at her uncle with an incredilous look. „Sorry, sir, but you need to do some explaining here why you have a small child in your flat polishing knives!“ he demanded to know. „Agent Barton I don´t owe you an apology or anything seeing this is my flat and my personal business.“ He said in a monotone voice. He turned to her, still no emotions written on his face. „Lyra go to your room. Leave the knives behind, we will talk in the morning.“ Knowing that there was no way out of her misery and that punishment would await her in the morning she left the room silently.

 

After that night Agent Barton (you can call me Clint) became part of her family. At first nothing more than another friend but soon more. Months later a red haired russian spy became another constant in her life.  
Although she still loved Maria and Marcus, the two new addition soon took her heart in a whirlwind, Clint with his childlike behavior and love for Disney movies and Natasha („Call her Tasha“ as Clint told her once) with her silent pressence and not real other emotion other than the occasional smile in their direction and her teaching Lyra more self defense.

Her uncle didn´t seem to mind them in his life and seemed to have more than just friendlike feelings for Clint. As the years went by and the pining and UST between Clint and Phil seemed to grow, Lyra got wind of the bet between Marcus, Maria, Jasper and Tasha. At the age of ten and being often alone with the two pining Males, a plan formulated in her young mind. Maybe not the best but still a great plan in her own humble opinion. Trying to get help from the adults seemd more difficult than expected especially since all of them wanted to win some bet. On her own she went on with her plan which took a turn for the worse when her getting (pure accidental) lost at a school trip, again, ended in a full blown rescue mission. It wasn´t really her fault anyways. She couldn´t forsee that her walking away from her school trip, her art teacher Mr. Logan was out sick that day, into a shop which was coincidental robbed turned into her being held hostage by two homicidal men. The robbers were in the unfortunate situation for their robbery was discovered by a policeman walking by and they thought the best in their situation was to take hostages. And that is the reason Lyra got caught up in the middle of a hostage situation.  
The other hostages, two men and a woman, were sitting on the ground trying to be brave because of her. Nobody wanted the child to be even more afraid as she probably was, in their opinion. One of the robbers seemed to recognize her school uniform as one „from that fancy high class school“ and decided to use her as leverage. No surprise that the moment the police arrived SHIELD wasn´t far behind, especially since they put a bug into her backpack. The moment the robbers decided to bring her upfront, under the distress of the other hostages, their fate was written. Her uncle, standing in his suit looking like any average guy took over the situation from the police. Although Lyra didn´t see Clint or Tasha she was pretty sure that they were somewhere nearby waiting for any orders from their handler.

 

While being dragged upfront she locked eyes with her uncle, giving him a small nod to let him know that she was okay. For a short moment, far to short for anybody else to notice, relief was shown in his eyes before they were professional again. The man holding her began speaking to her uncle until a crash was heard from behind him. He shouted for his accomplice but was met with silence. Lyra knew that Tasha had taken care of him. Luck was certainly not on her side that day for a rookie police officer got nervous and took a shot and all hell broke loose. The robber panicked so did the other policemen and somehow Lyra was caught in the middle of it. The bullet crossed the robbers arm which resulted in him being shaken from the impact letting her crash against the next shelf with her head first.

The next thing she knew she was waking up in a hospital bed. When she woke up her uncle was by her side with blood shot eyes. She greeted him with a sheepish hi bracing herself for a lecture, instead she found herself in an embrace sobbing against her uncle. „I am so sorry“ she sobbed between her tears. Her uncle only held her closer murmuring soothing words to her.  
At the knock at the door he let her go, but still held her hand, and called the others in. The five adults rushed into the room relief written in their face, even Tasha´s normally stoic face showed small signs of relief. Marcus let her know that the police officer who shot had gotten desk duty for a long time and the criminals were already in some cell without any chance of getting out any time soon. Maria reprimanded her that she should have been able to free herself while Tasha pointed out that Maria was partly to blame for her showing Lyra how to leave her class without being noticed. Clint was strangely silent during the debate and more focused on her uncle, looking at him in concern. The door opened again only to let her doctor in who in turn stood still for a moment to take in the scene in front of him. Six adults looking at him who all had a flair of danger around them, especially Marcus. Her doctor looked like he wanted to turn tail but gathered his courage to tell them that only blood relatives were allowed during the exam. Five of the adults looked about to protest when her uncle told them in his typical monotone voice to go and get her something to drink while the doctor would examine her.  
After the examination the doctor explained she only had a concussion and would be good as new after a few days of bedrest. When the others came back one by one left the room until only Lyra, her uncle and Clint were left in an awkward silence. Sensing her chance to make them realize their feelings for each other she formulated an easy new plan. She simply said „Please, Kiss already so this awkwardness is over!“ Both looked at her in shock and horror spluttering that she was wrong until she shot them a pointed look. Silence reigned again. „Clint, would you be so kind and bring my uncle home so he can sleep for a few hours before I come back home tomorrow tormenting him?“ she asked in her sweetest voice „Phil would thank you with making you a coffee I am sure“ Both looked at her again. Before one could even protest, Tasha walked into the room winked at her and led both of them out. Lyra shouted a „Love you“ after them and fell asleep with a happy grin. The next day she got a card from Tasha and the others thanking her for ending the pining. Whoever won the bet Lyra didn´t ask as she was happy enough with the result and their wedding two years later.

 

Her life was great, even though her uncle was asked to babysit Tony Stark for a few months in Malibu, leaving her and Clint on their own in NYC. She was preoccupied with school anyway and didn´t mind the weekends with only Clint and Tasha as company.  
Everything changed with the discovery of Captain America. Her uncle was since forever a big fan of him which made the whole thing a lot more exciting. Lyra herself read the comics but wasn´t that crazy about it like her relative, maybe growing up with her own kind of heros made her immune to his appeal.  
She was fifteen and had other worries on her mind. Her relationship with her uncle was a little rocky because of her being „an irresponsible teenager under the bad influence of her friends“ as her uncle told her. The fight escalated when she called him overbearing and overprotective. As emotions grew hot, words were spoken none of them were meant. After screaming at him that he wasn´t her father and that he had no right to forbid her from anything the flat grew silent. Clint who tried to stay out from the fight, tried to say something but was cut off by her uncle. Lyra realised what she said and regretted it in an instant. She was about to apologise but her uncle wouldn´t listen and left the room. Alone with Clint who looked at her accusingly. She told him off too thinking that now it didn´t matter because both were mad at her anyways. She took her stuff and left for school earlier than planned. At school, in her room she checked her mobile phone to look if anybody called her. She tried calling her uncle but couldn´t gather the courage to press the call button.

The next day before class she got an text from Maria telling her she should call her uncle and sort this mess out. Tasha sent her something along the same lines only paraphased as a threat that she would get her to talk to them if she was willing or not. What surprised her most was that she got a text from Clint. He wrote that he had to go watch over some alien stuff and hoped everything was sorted when he would come back. She wanted to text him back but her lessons were about to beginn and nobody wanted to be caught with a phone during Mr. Logan´s class. The day passed and she was buried under a mountain of homework, having also lost her phone due to a text from a friend during class.

Not wanting to go home because of the tense mood, which would certainly be, she stayed overnight. At breakfast the next morning the studentbody was in uproar. Some said something about Iron Man and Captain America being in NYC. She didn´t really listen to any of it. Everything seemed normal until the headmistress stood up telling them that the whole school will be going to some place away from NYC. The sudents cheered loudly happy about not having any classes that day. Lyra looked at her friends wanting to know if they knew about that. They just shrugged their shoulders telling her not to question everything.


	2. Chapter 2

The students were herded to the exits when Lyra notice Agent May in the crowd. She left her friends trusting her feeling that something was off about the whole thing. When she was near May she saw another agent walking up to her. The other agent was clearly distressed so something big was happening. Lyra only heard bits and pieces of the conversation but these were not good. Something about an alien invasion attacking NYC and a rogue SHIELD Agent in the claws of a God who injured others Agent on the Helicarrier. Some high up Agent was supposed to be dead and SHIELD was in pieces. Lyra got a bad feeling fearing for her family. She knew Clint wasn´t around, so he was safe and Tasha was away for some op. But the others and her uncle were in NYC at least that was the last she heard. She cursed her teacher for taking away her phone. The only source of information she now had, was right in front of her. She walked up to May, her mind made up to get every information she needed. May noticed her and her look changed into something akin to pity and regret. Before anyone could react a loud crash was heard from outside. Students screamed and ran inside again. The teachers and agents present tried to calm them down and lead them to the panic rooms underneath the school. An agent walked up to Lyra to lead her back to the other students. She looked at the agent and followed his lead when she heard some students behind her saying that he heard that the agent killed had family in the school. Numbly she followed, until she saw May again and finally realised, why she looked at her with pity in her eyes. May tried to get to her through the crowd of students while Lyra just stood still, shell shocked with realisation that her whole world just came crashing down. She turned around and tried to make herself a way through the crowd in direction of the entrances. Back home where she was sure Phil would wait for her to comfort her trough this nightmare she just had. She wanted to go home where everything was alright and no one got hurt.

 

She heard May calling out for her at first but soon May was only a noise in the distance. Someone tried to grab her to hold her back but she used her knowledge from Maria and Tasha to overwhelm him. When she was finally outside she saw hysteria and pure chaos. People were running around screaming in pure terror. Everywhere was glass and pieces of building were coming down. It seemed that the whole city tried to leave. She was pushed by people and nearly got trampled over. Some people, some policemen some agents tried to calm the crowd down and lead her to safety rooms but it seemed impossible. She heard someone calling her name and a flicker of hope bloomed in her. Maybe. She turned around to see May trying to get to her. Another loud crash. People turned around and ran now in the opposite direction away from where the school was instead of to it. May turned around and saw how something came near to the school. She looked one time more to Lyra only to turn around to the school, getting there as fast as possible trying to hinder anything from entering it.

The crowd took her with her. After a while people seemed to calm down and she finally tried to get a sense of direction. Firemen and policemen were everywhere looking out for injured and pieces of buildings which may come down.  
After confirming that she was indeed nowhere near her home or school she let herself be led to a bench. The woman who led her was covered in dust and her clothes were partly torn. She talked in a soft voice to her. Lyra wondered why the woman would even try to comfort her when she realised that her face was wet with tears. The woman probably thought she was in shock from the attack and sat her down on a bench holding her hand telling her over and over that everything would be okay. Slowly the crowd began moving towards an entrance of a safe room. Inside someone drapped a blanket around her shoulders murmuring something about being in shock. 

The second time you loose your parents is even worse because you remember everything about them and you feel powerless and numb. You hate the world for its unfairness and cruelty to take away your parents again. 

 

This time she remembered everything about them. She could say every telltale from her uncle, how Clint would laugh at the silliest joke, how her uncle could go on and on about Captain America. She remembered every Hello, every comforting word ever said to her, every I love you told to her from her uncle. She also remembered that their last words were spoken in anger and hurt. She didn´t answer their texts in fear of losing her phone. The rational part of her knew that her uncle knew she loved him and thought of him as a father but she never did say it out loud. When she came to live with him, she knew her father and knew that the man with the brown hair and glasses in a suit  
wasn´t her father. Over the time he was the only real parent she had and Clint later. Those two were always there for her and her worries. She left without trying to fix the silly argument they had. She didn´t even say goodbye to him before leaving their home.  
When the woman touched her again Lyra jumped a little bit. The woman held out to her a cup of water sitting down beside her. In silence both of them waited for the day to end.

 

Meanwhile at the center of the city the Avengers were fighting against Loki and winning. Not all of them knew of the sacrifice the victory had required. Exhausted but full of adrenaline the group decided to visit a shwarma joint. While the most of the males but one basked in their victory the female of the group tried to find the right words to find to tell her friend of his tragedy. Tony Stark, a man with no idea of the marriage of his fellow Avenger, raised his glass for a toast. The Black Widow realised that nothing she could say could soothe the pain and let it happen. One way or another he needed to know. As he was about to speak Clint got up and excused himself. The others were a little taken back but at the glare of their infamous woman in their midst they stayed silent. The Black Widow herself got up and followed Clint outside.

She saw how he checked his phone for any messages and subsequently listen to the voicemail he had. After listening to it he looked at her waiting for her to say something. Now or never she thought. „Clint, little hawk, I am sorry but Phil...Phil he didn´t make it!“she said broken, looking at him and seeing how her words broke the man in front of her. His phone fell out of his hands to the ground, bursting in hundreds of pieces the moment it touched the ground. „Does Lyra...does she know? Where is “ he said before being interrupted by Natasha who told him that Lyra was in safety at the school and that they could go and get her. Without caring about what the others might think, they walked away in the direction of the school. Walking being the only way on getting their for the streets were blocked by pieces of broken buildings.

When the battle was finally over and the safe rooms were openend the people cheered. They cheered for the victory they all hoped for. The broken buildings and blocked streets were not seen only freedom and victory. The people stormed out of the room anxious to look for loved ones. Lyra was led outside by the woman still holding her hand and the blanket around her shoulders. From the distance cries of loss were heard but they were soon dimmed by the joyous cries of loved ones finding each other. The woman walked a bit with her before she suddenly stopped and said a name. A man walked up to her and held her tight while she cried tears of joy. Feeling somewhat like an intruder Lyra walked away. She didn´t look back to see if the woman noticed her absence and looked for her. She just blended in with the crowds. After a while of aimlessly wandering around she decided to go home in a sudden burst of false hope that someone might wait for her there and the knowing feeling that there at least someone might start looking for her. 

 

After walking in silence for an hour they finally reached the school, where they were greeted with other SHIELD agents freeing the entrance of the school from pieces of other building. Everything seemed worse to wear but the mood was free and alive. Clint nor Natasha wanted to stand out in the crowd and stayed back. They watched the people working and talking to each other. It seemed like people began already to move on and enjoy their survival while for some the world stood still. To say none of them noticed Agent May walking up to them would be an insult to their status as spies and the title of the best SHIELD agents. They saw her coming up to them with a troubled look in her eyes. The look could have been because of how Clint had been compromised or the death of their handler and his husband, not that any people knew they were married. May only knew because Lyra had taken a liking to the agent and wanted her to know. 

Shortly before that Maria Hill was stopped by no less than four agents from killing her superior and Director of SHIELD. After listening to his speech about the death of their friend, his oldest and best friend, he told her the truth. He defended himself that the Avengers needed something to avenge. That sentence alone made her blood boil and that was how she ended up on the ground with four agents trying to calm her down. After she had her composure back she stood up again. „I hope for your sake that neither Agent Barton nor Agent Romanoff let alone Coulson have been told your lie.“She said to him turning to Jasper Sitwell motioning him to come with her. „Jasper, you will go to the Avengers and hope to God that they didn´t tell anyone. I will go to the school.“ with that they both parted their way determined to make a wrong right.

Agent May gathered all her strength to let the two deadliest assassins of SHIELD know that not only did they lose a beloved today but also that she, an agent of SHIELD lost his child in the crowd, no she didn´t lose it, she left it behind for the safety of the other children. They would kill her, she was sure of it. Both looked at her with cold eyes.Before she could open her mouth the telltale sound of a helicopter was heard. As it landed Maria Hill, Deputy Director of SHIELD got out of it. She headed straight to the little group of three. „Thank God you are here. I have to tell you something. Agent May you go and get Lyra and meet us at he base. Barton, Romanoff come with me. I have to show you something.“ Hill motioned for the Agents to follow her to the helicopter when May spoke up. „I am sorry Ma´m but that won´t be possible. Lyra“ Three pair of eyes focused solely on her. „What about Lyra, May?“ Agent Romanoff said in a deadly calm voice. „Lyra, she left the building during the battle. I followed her but lost sight of her. When I saw her again the school was about to be attacked and I had to let her go to help the other agents.“ May said in a rush hoping for whatever divinity up above for a speedy end. „Why..why would she leave the building?“ Barton wanted to know in a disbelieving voice. „She may have overheard some of the agents talking about the attack on the helicare and the death of Agent Coulson.“ „Damn you Marcus.“ Hill murmured in answer to this. Romanoff quick as ever to catch up with it looked at Hill with a quesioning yet deadly glare. „Fury lied.“ was all Hill said. Barton and Romanoff looked morified yet relieved until the current problem caught up with them.  
„So because of an overheard talk between two agents the daughter of two fellow agents is God knows where?“ Hill said in anger. „May, you are excused and you will come see me when you are finished here.“ she ordered. „You take the helicopter back to the base and go see Phil. I will go with some other agents to look for her, Clint we will find her.“ „I can´t just go and leave her...Phil would understand.He would want me to look for her...Oh my God what if..“ He held back a sob. „Little hawk, don´t worry I will go with Maria and will find her. You go to Phil and be there for him. He will need someone.“ With a nod she and Hill led him to the Helicopter.

 

Finally Lyra reached the building of their flat only to find it a little destroyed, although the main battle was in Manhattan the other districts had collateral damage. She walked up the stairs to the building careful of not falling over broken pieces. The flat had some damages but nothing too bad. Windows were broken, glass was lying everywhere and some furniture seemed to have fallen over. She looked around looking for any glue someone was there looking for her but found nothing. Feeling tired and defeated Lyra went to her room. Again her window was broken some of her old toys laid on the floor. She picked up an old toy, one she had before Phil and her new family and pressed it thight to her chest. The shockblanket still around her shoulders she slowly sat down leaning against the wall letting her tears fall free surprising herself at still being able to cry.

 

Agent Sitwell touched ground the moment the remaining Avengers left the shwarma shop. He looked at them and saw that two of them were missing. He couldn´t help himself from cursing under his breath. „Agent Barton and Romanoff aren´t with you?“ he asked knowing already the answer. „You are SHIELD, aren´t you? No the scary woman and her friend left without saying a word. No manners at all.“ Stark said. He was about to get back into the helicopter when Rogers began speaking. „Why are you looking for them, Agent?“ Sitwell looked at the group and decided that they should know the truth, for he was still furious with Fury and his betrayal. „There was some miscomunication about a certain Agent and their so said early death.“ „Are you saying Agent Agent is still alive? Fury, the fucking lying asshole.“ Stark spat out. The other Avengers looked furious as well. „You could catch a ride back to base and let him have a piece of your mind!“ Sitwell offered.  
The Avengers took him up on it in a second.

In the air Sitwell called Hill to let him know that the two agents were not with him. He was shell shocked hearing from the disappearance of Lyra, but promised to let Fury in on the search in hopes of finding her fast. His guests looked at him questiongly but didn´t say anythink, well most of them didn´t. Stark wanted to know and didn´t stop asking until the landing back at the base.  
They arrived at the same time as Clint, who still looked like hell. Jasper waved at him wih the Avengers in tow. He called on of the medics to take Clint to his husband. He motioned to the Avengers to follow him, under the protest of Stark who shut up the minute he heard where they were headed.  
Fury was back at his office waiting. He knew Hill and Sitwell would bring back a crowd looking for murder but he wasn´t faced by any of it. They needed something to believe in. He stood by his decision. When Sitwell and the Avenger sans Widow and Hawkeye entered he braced himself for their accusations. Before one even could say one word Sitwell held a phone out to him. He reached for it and listened to his deputy.

 

It was Romanoff´s idea to go to their flat first. While walking through and seeing all the damage they hoped that the building was still standing. Arriving there with high hopes they entered the appartment. They called out her name but weren´t met with an answer so they decided to search the appartment. They went to Lyra´s room but found it empty, but it as clear someone was there for a shockblanket laid on the floor. They walked to the last room in the apartment, Phil and Clint´s bedroom where they found her lying curled up in a ball clutching an old teddy bear to her chest asleep atop the covers. Hill stepped outside to call for a pick up while Natasha watched her sleeping.  
The helicopter arrived in no time with Clint on board. He hurried up the stairs to his apartment and into his room. Hill and Natasha left the room to let them have some kind of privacy. He walked slowly towards the bed and sat down reaching out to touch the girls hair. At the touch she stirred and instinctly moved closer to his hand. Slowly she opened her eyes looking at him with disbelief. Before he knew it he had the girl in his arms clinging to him. She clung to him like he was life itself. Clint knew nothing he said would go through her in her state so he just scooped her in his arms and left the room with her in direction of the helicopter. Waiting there were Hill and Tasha looking with concern at the girl. Nobody said something during the flight, as the happenings of the day caught up with them and none of them were really good with words anyway.  
Their arrival at the base was met with surprise and curiosity, nobody knew about Lyra and her conection to SHIELD or Barton or any of them. Fury looked at them with deep regret.

 

Stark, nosy as ever tried following Barton and the girl but was cut short by the Widow.  
Clint brought her to his husband´s office where he put her down on the couch. She didn´t willingly let go of him but realised that it needed to be. He left for the little washroom beside the office leaving her alone for a few minutes. She looked around but didn´t dare to move. Everything in the room was efficent besides the couch. The couch was well worn one could say. Comfy, it had an excellen view at the desk.The desk itself was empty beside the PC monitor. Clint came back with a wet towel for her face and she took it willingly though avoided looking at him. When the door opened again Tasha stepped in with clothes in her hands. She looked at Lyra and held a hand out to her, which was taken willingly. Tasha led her to the small washroom and helped her clean up a bit and change in a pair of her own jeans and a shirt. When they walked back into the office Clint looked at them, a little relieved at her looks. Lyra didn´t really know what to do. She was at an office she never seen before looking at a part of her family who was as broken as herself. She heard voices from the outside seemingly coming closer.

 

„So this is SHIELD, his office right? I have never been here before...it´s strange to be here now that he..that he...and I said all this things omygod I said such horrible stuff and now I can never take I can´t apologize“ she said to none of them directly, choking of the last words not seeing them move towards her only focusing on the desk. „O God Tasha didn´t you...Lyra he isn´t dead. He is alive. I am so sorry I thought you knew. I thought Hill or Tasha told you. He is alive. I swear he is alive.“ Clint told her over and over again holding her close. Tasha put a cup of water in her hands which she drank but still not processing the words he told her. She only looked at the desk. „At school someone said...and May...he is alive?“ she said with a small voice still not believing it. „Can I...can I see him? Please!“ „Of course, c´mon let´s go.“ Opening the door they were greeted by Stark who clearly pulled Rogers behind him and surprisingly some agents who tried to look innocent. Stark was about to say something before Tasha glared at him and he closed his mouth again. „We are going to see Coulson, are you coming Stark, Rogers?“ She asked them to which both nodded.

 

Clint held her hand all the way to the medics wings as if she would disapear if he let go. They arrived at a door where two men were waiting outside. Both looked at them but only one spoke. „The doctor is inside. Only relatives are allowed insde“ Nobody said something as Clint opened the door and took her with him inside. The doctors looked at them in surprise but did start explaining something to Clint of which nothing got through to Lyra. She just looked at her uncle who was seemingly asleep but wasn´t. He had a tube down his throat and his chest was bandaged. A maschine beside the bed showed his heart rate. „What happened to him?“ she asked as she slowly walked to his bedside. Clint put a chair beside her which she glady sat down taking her uncles hand carefulls in her own. „He thought he could take on a God. He got his lung pearced, damn close to his heart and he broke his leg and had a concussion. But he will be okay, you know him he wouldn´t let you behind without a fight.“ he explained patiently.

„I said some horrible things to him and I didn´t apologise do you think he knows I am sorry, that I never meant it. I love him, he is the only family left I still have.“ she felt Clint get rigid beside her. „No, I am sorry I didn´t mean that. He was always there for me as were you and I love you really, you are my parent as much as he is but he...he is the only living person who knew my parents, who will tell me about them, especially about mom. You know I don´t remember much only bits and pieces and he was always there for me to tell me stories about when she was young. He always said that they were made for each other. I was happy for him when both of you finaly realised you were meant to be.“ She looked at him. „I am really happy he has someone who loves him and whom he loves back. He deserves it. And I was ungrateful and said that he wasn´t my father although he was much more than that for me. I need him, Clint, I still need him I have got so much to ask him and I need his advice.“ „It´s okay darling he will be okay. He knows you didn´t mean any of it. He knows you love him. He knows all of that. You both are just too stubborn to pick up a phone and talk to each other. He would never abandon you because of a silly fight.“  
„After I left, did he talk with you?“  
„He was hurt by what you said and we got into a fight, but it´s not your fault, really no it was silly and we made up before I left so don´t worry about it. He promised me to call you though, guess he hadn´t found time for it.“ She looked back to her uncle. „Maybe he did and I never saw it because a teacher took my phone for texting and I didn´t get it back before everything happenend. So the big blond guy outside is Captain America? Did he get to meet him?“  
„Yeah he did and he geeked out. Said some stuff along those crazy glitter vampires like I watched you sleeping.“ This caused her to laugh. „No way he did? That´s crazy and kinda embarassing. Poor man must have been pretty freaked out. I wish he told me that himself. But then he wouldn´t have told me about the creepy geek out.“ Both went silent again watching Phil´s chest rise and fall.

 

Soon Natasha joined them, stoic as ever, speaking to Clint without words, a feature that never failed to fascinate Lyra. After their telepathical talk, they informed her that the others wanted to see him but that she didn´t have to answer any of their quesions. One by one the Avengers walked into the room and gave her a suspicious look, though they didn´t ask anything. The room was strangely silent beside the noise from the maschines and the rusling of paper, from Dr. Banner who read the medical file.

After a few minutes Clint squeezed her shoulders and Tasha and him let the others out of the room, leaving her seemingly alone with her uncle. Until someone cleared his throat making her notice that Dr Banner was still in the room. „Hey!“ he said softly to her. She nodded at him. „Has somebody already looked at that?“ She looked at him questiongly and saw him motioning towards her arm where she had a small cut. „Tasha cleaned it.“ He nodded and moved closer. „I am Dr. Bruce Banner, you can call me Bruce if you want. Let me take a look again and bandage it.“ He took some antidisfections and cleaned it again with it. While putting the bandage on he began talking again. „He will be okay, you know. The doctors are optimistic. You don´t have to worry. You should lay down for a while, you look pretty exhausted. I am sure you can stay in the room and we can organise some bed for you, if you are afraid to leave.“ She nodded. He got up and walked up to the door, before leaving the room he heard a small „thank you“ from her. Outside he was met with two deadlylooking assassins and a pissed of deputy director. „You may want to get her something to eat and a bed, because I doubt she will leave the room any time soon.“ He said without really caring for any of them and walked away.  
The next time the door opened again a bed was rolled in followed by Maria who held a cup and a plate with a sandwich. „Hey there, I thought maybe you want something to eat and a hot chocolate with marshmallows.“

 

Days went by without any change. She stayed in the room most of the time, hardly ever she was alone for Clint was nearly always there with here with the occasional visit from Tasha or Maria.  
After a week of staying inside having nothing to do but watch her unconscious uncle, she was near a mental break down again. Nothing seemed to change and the doctors always told the same, that they just have to wait. Clint felt her restlessness but was unwilling to leave he bedside of his husband. Tasha and Maria both were out on some important mission as was Jasper and nobody wanted to bring Fury into the whole mess. It was a welcome distraction that Stark and the others, sans Thor, decided to visit again. Stark´s couriosity was somewhat stilled by his own inquiries.

She used it to leave the room without making a big fuss about it. She walked down the medics wing hoping nobody would take notice of her. When she finally found the exit of the building, which seemed to consist of endless corridors she took a deep breath of air.  
„For not being a spy but a big green rage monster you are pretty good at being invisible.“ she said out loud without looking back. „As are you, for a fifteen year old girl.“ the man behind her said. „You should go back inside he will be worried, you know.“ Another deep breath. „No he won´t. I am sure he noticed I left and that I will come back. So why did you follow me? To reprimand me for leaving can´t be the only reason.“ „No of course not, I wanted to know how your arm is.“ She huffed a laugh. „My arm is great, thank you for asking. And I am fine too, so no need to pester me about my feelings.“ „I wouldn´t do that. I will go back inside and tell them where you are.“ He was about to leave her as she spoke again. „Do you want to, I mean I really could use something to eat other than cafeteria food, would you like to keep me company?“ He nodded. „Let´s go to the small bistro at end of the corner.“ he suggested. „I am Lyra, by the way.“ He smiled and said „I know“ before shaking her hand.

 

During their meal he talked about his traveling while she listened and asked some questions, not thinking or talking of the medic wing and its inhabitant for a short time. After a while Bruce asked her some questions about school and typical teenager stuff, carefully leaving out anything that would bring her home or parents up, trying to cheer her up with stories about the others. She didn´t notice that they were over an hour in the bistro or that Clint walked up to them. Bruce nodded at him still listening to some anecdote of her art teacher which caused her smile and make big gestures. Clint watched them for a while before he walked up to them. The moment she saw him she froze and panicked. „Is everything okay?“ „Yeah, don´t worry. I was just looking for you, you were gone for over an hour already.“ She looked at him and wanted to explain before she was cut off by Bruce. „We didn´t want you to worry, Clint, we just lost track of time.“

„I am not mad or anything, just curious. I knew you had to get out of there for some time. Just making sure everything is alright, kid.“ He gave her a small smile which made her relax a little. „So, Lyra here just told me about her art teacher, Mr Logan.“ Just talking about nothing ot great importance other than school and movies made her feel a little better. Before they knew it got dark and the parted their ways. Bruce promised to visit her more often while Clint told her jokingly that she can´t keep all the strays she finds. For the next few days Bruce came by for lunch, sometimes he had Stark or Rogers in tow, sometimes Clint would join them and sometimes it were just the two of them. When Tasha came back from her mission she joined them, if she didn´t feel the need to stay with Clint. After another week Stark suggested that they could move in with him and leave the hospital room behind until everything is sorted out. That day she realised that the battle was already three weeks in the past with no other change than him losing the tubes. Three weeks of waiting for him to wake up. Nobody seemed to notice her sudden mood change, but then they only knew her for a short amount of time. Back at the room Clint would watch her uncle and Tasha would watch both of them, at this moment she couldn´t bare the thought of going back in there, hoping for some miracle. She told Bruce and Stark (who insisted on calling him Tony but she liked to rile him up) that they need not to come up with her again.

 

Finding an office you were in only once and had no idea how you got there the first time was harder than one would think. After wandering around for some time, nobody stopped her from wandering around, she finally found the office. The door was unlocked, which she found strange but on the other hand the people working here were supposed to be spies and be able to open every lock. She walked behind the desk and sat down on the chair. It had three drawers the first two were filled with paper and other office stuff, the last one had a box in it. It wasn´t locked, she remembered him saying one time that the best place to hide something is in plain sight because nobody bothers to look at stuff that looks unsuspicious. The box itself looked like an ordinary shoebox, nothing special. One could think that in it were some shoes to change, not worth a second glance. She opened it anyways. Inside were photos of which she recognised some, other she saw for the first time. Some were from his time in the military she guessed, a few from his childhood, one of him with Clint on some mission, photos of her parents, drawings she did when she was younger and other stuff like that. At the bottom of the box was a newspaper article describing her parents car crash and letters. Some had her name on it some her mothers name and one to her father, all but one were written in her uncle´s writing. The one was written on offical letter paper from some law firm and adressed to her. She opened it, the seal was already once opened and looked at the date. It was dated over ten years back, shortly after her parents accident. It was their will she realised. Curious she began reading it. Apparently she had some trust fund in her name which came in her posession when she was 21 or before to pay for college tution. Lyra folded the will again and put it back into the box. She took one letter adressed to her mother. It was dated to her mother´s birthday six years back. He wrote about how about Lyra´s year and what she was up to. She picked up other letters which were also dated at her moher´s birthday. She didn´t read them though, she only looked at the dates. Somehow she felt like she would break the trust of her uncle if she would start reading them all. In the end she laid them out according to their dates and had twelve birthday letters to her mother, the one to her father which she didn´t open at all and another three letters to her mother with no date and two letters adressed to her. She thought about opening tthe one adressed to her but at the knock at the door she put everything back in the box and closed the drawer. 

The door opened and Tasha stepped inside the office. „There you are, we were looking for you.“ „Sorry I was ust wandering around and found the office again. Didn´t watch the time, I didn´t want to worry anybody.“ „Don´t worry you didn´t. Rogers came by to talk to Clint and asked for you and Clint was a little taken aback that you weren´t with Dr. Banner or Stark anymore.“ Lyra winced. „I guess I should have said something. Won´t happen again.“ Tasha cracked a smile at that. „Don´t promise something you know you will break. Come on let´s go.“ Sensing her unwillingness led her to the couch and sat down besider her. „Talk!“ she commanted. „You know, you could at least try to be nice“A glare from Tasha in her direction „Okay, I´ll talk. I am afraid, what if..you know. I mean Phil he adopted me when I was five for all legal reasons and stuff like that, because he loved me and wanted to make sure nobody could take me away. But now he is...and I don´t know what will happen. Clint, he loves me, I know..hope...think..it´s different. They never told me if he even thought about adopting me or wanted to know my opinion on it and if...I will stay behind. Clint and you will leave because of the whole Loki stuff, don´t think I didn´t notice people whispering behind his back about his blame in it and I wouldn´t blame him for leaving. I wouldn´t stay either if the others were like that to me and without Phil there is nothing left for him here.And he wouldn´t take me with you because I would only remind him of him and I am a child and the life on the run is nothing for a child. In the end they would put me back to the borading school, I would have to stay there all year with Maria or Jasper as my guardian and after my grauation I got the trust fund for college. If Phil dies, I am left behind. I know they wouldn´t want me to feel that way but I can´t stop it.“ Tasha gave her a light smack against her head. „Hey“ „ You listen now, we would never leave you behind ever. You are family. Clint loves you don´t doubt that. The reason he didn´t adopt you was because they weren´t sure if it was alright with you. You spent a long time to have Phil for yourself and Phil was afraid that you would feel pressured to say yes to please him. They are men they don´t think everything ten times through like you. They didn´t realise that their decision made you feel left out. They only wanted the best for you. Why do you think Clint never says anything during your fights with Phil? Because he is afraid to overstep some boundry. Not because he doesn´t care for you. After your last fight the two of them had an arguement too because Clint could somewhat understand you. He fought for you with Phil. Both of them would do anyhing for your happiness. You are the reason they are together after all. Never forget that child“ Lyra looked at her, happier with a mischievious grin. „I am still waiting for you to start quoting Lilo and Stitch or Supernatural. Somethink like Ohana means family, family doesn´t end with blood“ she spluttered out between laughter. „Child, you are Clint´s daughter. You share the same love for silly Disney movies and strange TV series.“

„Oh c´mon I know you like the TV series too. Who said last time we watched that the only two people more oblivious about their feelings other than Phil and Clint are the angel and his lovesick hunter? And no, you still can´t intimidate the writers to make it canon. Remember when you tried to do it with Sherlock and how we had to wait 2 years. Still can´t believe that this Moffat guy he has got to have nerves out of steal to say no to you. Still blame you for the cliffhanger.“ A smile crossed  
Tasha´s lips before she looked at her stoic as ever „Everything okay?“ „Yeah as good as can be given the situation.“  
„Come on then, back to your crazy father.“ „Yeah, crazy but we love them.“ „Yes, we do“  
Back at the medics wing they were greeted with a nervous Clint pacing outside of the room. Bracing herself for the worst, because he rarely left the room she walked up to him and hugged him thightly. „I love you, you know that right? No matter what will happen“ she whispered to him. „I love you too, never for a moment doubt that. You better walk in there and explain yourself.“ She looked at him in disvelief. He just nodded. She turned to Tasha who smiled benevolent and opened the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading it, hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> I didn´t have a beta nor is english my native tongue so please excuse any mistakes.


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